Getting to Know You
by Dark Side's Cookies
Summary: Pepper challenges Tony and Steve to a little exercise.


_**Tony**_ couldn't believe they were actually doing this. He couldn't believe _he_ was actually doing this. Why Pepper of all people suggested he do this with Steve of all people was beyond him. But he was doing it.

"Are you finished yet, Tony?"

"Perfection takes time."

"Steve is finished."

"Of course he is." Tony muttered something under his breath about Steve being _perfect_, but continued writing on the paper with the pencil. "Can I not just run through this with Jarvis?" he asked for the umpteenth time.

"Steve didn't have the help of an artificial intelligence, why should you?"

"Because he's my artificial intelligence." Tony was starting to get agitated, putting a little too much pressure on the writing utensil. It snapped in half and Tony let out an exasperated curse.

Pepper reached forward, yanking the broken pieces of the defenseless pencil, thrusting another into his grasp. "Don't break that one. Just finish!"

Tony grumbled again, but continued the activity. He may be a genius, but he's not a writer. He didn't generate words on a regular basis. He did other, more important things, greater things. He didn't spend his time coming up with words about Captain Spangly Pants on a piece of paper with a pencil. But he did it because arguing with Pepper is a whole lot more fun when she catches him and he's actually doing something she had no idea he was even doing.

After another half hour at least and a couple hundred more curses later, he handed over the sheet of paper. "Why I let you talk me into things, I'll never know."

"You love me, and you know it."

"Which is entirely beside the point. What are you going to do with them now?"

Pepper smiled, standing up and heading toward the door. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Tony rolled his eyes and yelled after her, but she was gone, taking the elevator off Tony's personal level.

Over the next few days, Tony found a note card on the same spot on the counter in the kitchen, in front of his coffee maker. Day One: Audacious. He couldn't argue with that. Day Two: Neurotic. _Shrug_. Day Three: Transcendent. _Hmmm._ They seemed to be getting better. Day Four: Hedonistic. Steve even knows that word? (He didn't pause for a moment to think that he had referred to him as Steve and not Rogers, Captain America, or any other derogatory nickname.) Day Five: Ostentatious. Day Six: Naughty. That one made him laugh.

Day Seven: Yummy. Tony stood in front of his coffee maker for the longest time trying to figure this one out. It wasn't as though he'd never been referred to as yummy before, but by Steve (he thought of him by his first name again), it was something completely ... Tony wasn't sure what it was. He had to talk to Pepper. Steve (and again) had definitely cheated.

"Jarvis, call Pepper."

There was a few moments of silence before Jarvis voice came through the house comm system. "_Miss Potts, sir."_ He patched her through.

"Pepper, we've got a problem on our hands."

"Run out of creamer?"

Tony opened the cupboard to check, just in case. "No," he shook his head, closing the door and picking up the card again. "Steve cheated."

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then when she replied, he had to wonder why she sounded so smug. "_Steve_ didn't cheat, Tony. Why are you saying he did?"

"Yummy? He put "yummy" on my _Y_." He hadn't meant for that to come out as dirty as it did, but eh, it's like Pepper would really notice.

"So? Is there something wrong with that? I think it's accurate."

"Yeah, that's all very well, you and I were together for two years. This is Steve we're talking about. He cheated!"

"Again, why do you think he cheated?"

"He said 'yummy,' Pep! '_Yummy_!'"

"I still don't see the problem."

Tony glared for a moment but then sighed. "Jarvis. Disconnect. Call Steve."

"_I cannot, sir."_

Tony rolled his eyes. "Jarvis. STEVE. NOW!"

"_Miss Potts has overridden your authorization. You are not allowed to call Captain Rogers or he you until the end of your exercise." _

"Who do you work for?"

"_Sir, I suggest you keep on with the activity. It would do you some good."_

The next week went by uneventful. He agreed with everything Steve had to say about him. Day Eight: Eccentric. Day Nine: Determined. Day Ten: Wise. Day Eleven: Asinine. Tony had to laugh. Day Twelve: Recalcitrant. _Hmmm._ Day Thirteen: Deviant. Day Fourteen: Shrewd. Day Fifteen: Talented. He had no idea Steve thought of him that way. He was beginning to see Steve in a whole new light, and he was realizing he liked the Steve he was coming to know in these cards.

Day Sixteen: Antagonistic. No argument there. Day Seventeen: Resurgent. On this day, he knew he had one more day of this activity, but Steve had gotten his final word today. Tony had thought Steve's list for him had been far better than the list Tony had made for him, and he decided he wanted to make up for it.

"Jarvis, Dial Pepper."

* * *

_**Steve**_ had no idea why Pepper had wanted him and Tony to do her exercise, but he went along with it, not questioning her much. He did want to know what kinds of words he could use, but she wouldn't even answer that for him.

"Just words that remind you of Tony."

It had perplexed him for a while, but when he actually sat down to write it out, the words flowed onto the paper for him. He got stuck on a few of the letters though. Leave it to Tony to have a Y in his name. And of course, Pepper wouldn't just let them do Steve and Tony. No, she insisted on the two of them coming up for a letter for each letter of their names, their full names: Steven Grant Rogers and Anthony Edward Stark. The activity still confused him, but after sitting at it, he had it done in no time, turning it into Pepper.

On the first day, Steve came into the kitchen and found a card with a word written on it stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet. Pulling the card off the refrigerator, he read the word on it. Sensible. The word brought a smile to his face and he went on his day with a little extra skip in his step. That was a good word for Stark to start with. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

The next morning, another card hung on the fridge. He read it. Thoughtful. Again, Steve had a great day. On the third day, he had to think a bit about the word he found. Efficacious. _How does one person get the idea of what that means into one word?_ he thought to himself. _Well, if anyone was going to do it, it would be Mr. Stark._

Day after day, Steve looked forward to his morning word. The days seemed to fly by. Valiant. Emphatic. Nationalist. Gallant. This one in particular on the seventh day brought probably the biggest smile to his face. Did Tony really think he was gallant, like a white knight? He tried not to think about it, or the fact that somehow Mr. Stark had become Tony without even trying.

Respectful. Artful. Noble. Theistic. Reserved. Objective. Genuine. Endearing. This word, three days before the exercise was over, at least on his end, stopped him yet again. Endearing? Tony thought he was endearing? He didn't even think Tony would use those kinds of words. It didn't seem to be a word that was used much in the twenty-first century. He found that this was probably his favorite word, even though he hadn't had the last two yet.

Rational. Secular. On the last day, he tucked the last card in with the rest of them he'd saved in a box in his bedroom. He was looking forward to talking to Tony about his answers on the day after tomorrow. He couldn't wait to tell Tony how he'd felt about what he said about him, and he couldn't wait to hear what Tony thought about the words he had used to describe him.

On the last day though, Tony's last day, Steve ended up getting another card. He stopped after entering the kitchen, his head tilted to one side, not having expected to see another card hanging there. Walking over to it, he pulled the card down from the magnet, reading over the card. Swallowing hard, he leaned back against the counter, taking a deep breath. Out of all the cards he'd gotten, this card was the best.

_There are many words I would use to describe Steve, but I think this is the word that describes who he is down to the very last letter: Perfect._

Steve didn't agree with the words, but what was really getting to him was if Tony really thought of him as perfect. He didn't know if Pepper had asked him to find another word or if he'd just done it on his own. Either way, he was still stuck on the world he had chosen. Did Tony really think that he was perfect? Yes, he was made to be the perfect soldier, but there was a difference between that and someone else thinking he was really perfect. There was something different about _Tony_ thinking he was perfect.

* * *

The activity was finally over, and Tony found himself bouncing around, waiting for the moment he knew Steve would be awake. He hadn't slept all night. He'd been too eager to talk Steve. _Steve_, he thought to himself, _when did he become Steve_? Tony wasn't going to dwell on it. He skipped his morning coffee, not needing it with how hyped up he was without it, and headed down one floor to Steve's level in the Avengers Tower.

Steve had been staring at the elevator from where he sat on the couch. He wanted to get up and go talk to Tony, but he was sure Tony was still sleeping. He knew how late Tony stayed up into the nights. He knew that he didn't come up from his lab until just a few short hours before Steve usually woke up. He was about to just forget decency and head up to Tony's room when he heard the elevator moving and froze, mid-stand.

The elevator door opened and he saw Tony step out. It wasn't an instant before he was right over in front of Steve, looking up at him. They looked at each other for a moment before Tony shook his head.

"There's no way you can think I'm yummy! You've never tasted me."

Steve's eyes widened. What was Tony saying? Isn't "yummy" another word for "cute" or "attractive" or... "There aren't a whole lot of adjectives that start with the letter _Y_, Tony."

"Yeah, but I-" Tony blinked. "Tony?"

Steve swallowed. "That is your name, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I... Tony?" Tony couldn't help the smile that was itching at the corner of his lips.

"Would you prefer I continued to call you Stark?" Steve felt as though his world was deflated around him.

"No," Tony shook his head. "Definitely not, Steve."

This time, even though he was feeling utterly dejected, rejected and ... "Steve?"

"Oh, get over it, you big lug."

Steve smiled brightly. "You really think I'm Genuine? Gallant?"

Tony held up his hand. "Hold on a moment!" He took another step forward, both of them close enough now to touch. "I'd like you to know for yourself if I'm yummy or not."

Steve's eyes widened. "What? It's a figure of speech, Tony."

"Well, it won't be now!"

Tony reached up, grabbed the back of Steve's head and pulled Steve down to press his lips to the super soldier's. For a moment, Steve stood there, shocked. He couldn't believe Tony was actually kissing him. But what he couldn't believe even more was that he was enjoying it. He hadn't had much experience with kissing in his life, but out of all the people he has kissed, Tony had definitely topped them with just this single kiss.

Slowly, Tony pulled back, looking up into Steve's eyes. He hadn't fought the kiss. He seemed to be shocked, but then it had faded away and he was sure he felt Captain America kissing him back. But Tony still wasn't sure.

"Still yummy?"

Steve nodded slowly, his eyes locked on Tony's lips. "Again?"

Tony smiled smuggly, pleased of himself. "Definitely, my white knight!"

Steve smiled, this time wrapping both of his hands around Tony's face, pulling him closer to kiss him, deeper, longer. It was the best feeling in the world. He could kiss Tony forever and never get tired of it. Pulling back, only when he knew both of them needed to breathe, he rested his forehead down on Tony's forehead.

"Have you ever fondued, Tony?"

Tony looked up at him, their eyes millimeters from each other. "Fondued?"

Steve took Tony's hand in his and lead him toward his bedroom. It may have been fast, but considering they've known each other for a few years now, and these past eighteen days of getting to know each other through the words they had used to describe each other, Steve didn't feel bad for wanting to jump right into this at all, all because Pepper insisted they participate in this little word exercise of "Getting to Know You."


End file.
